July’s Online Industry Meetup saw a rapid‑fire presentation from Stephen Hall, Managing Director of Advanced Alloy Services (AAS). He warned that the UK’s reliance on imported critical minerals is a strategic weak point that will touch every business that cuts, drills, casts or machines metal.
“There’s a blissful ignorance of how susceptible and reliant we are on China for pretty much everything.”
This will soon be brought into an even sharper focus, as Hall pointed out that around 80% of the world’s tungsten is mined in China, and new export restrictions are already biting. Over recent months, there has been an increase of 50% in prices for tungsten, and more recently, an additional 20% spike in a single day has recently been seen at the sharp end of the market.
If the taps tighten further, UK machining becomes “a little bit tricky,” to put it mildly.
From ‘Being Green’ to Securing Strategic Materials
Hall’s central point was that sustainability isn’t only about carbon - it’s about supply.
Superalloys that go into turbines, aircraft engines, energy plant and medical equipment carry the very elements that appear on government critical minerals lists the world over. Lose track of those elements in your waste streams and you’re effectively exporting resilience. Hall argued that the manufacturing mindset must shift from traditional linear thinking (take‑make‑dispose) to a truly circular model that values secondary metal as strategic feedstock.
Hall reminded members that in sectors such as aerospace the “buy‑to‑fly” ratio can sit at just 10–15%, meaning you may start with roughly ten times the metal that ever reaches the finished part—a sobering inefficiency when raw inputs tighten. He also stressed that while the UK has some geology, we import the vast majority of the metals we use; what we do have abundantly is high‑grade secondary material sitting in bins, skippings and process scrap.
Meet the Speaker: Why Stephen Hall Carries Weight on This Topic
Hall’s credibility helped the message land. Since taking the helm at AAS in 2016 he has grown turnover from £30 million to beyond £50 million, moved the team into a 44,000 sq ft purpose‑built facility, and launched US off‑shoot Advanced Revert LLC as part of the wider Advanced Alloys Group.
The UK operation runs lean - about 40 people generating more than £1 million turnover per employee - reflecting the high value of the critical‑metal rich material streams AAS processes.
The firm’s international reach was recognised with the 2024 King’s Award for Enterprise (International Trade), its first ever award entry in three decades of trading.
Hall also serves as Chair of the Minor Metals Trade Association, has contributed to UK Government work (including the CMIC study on specialist aerospace materials), and is a Guardian of the Sheffield Assay Office - all of which adds up to serious sector insight.
Hall and AAS are putting real money into solutions: an in‑house R&D lab; Innovate UK support; and a multi‑year collaboration with Coventry University exploring bio‑leaching to recover nickel, cobalt and other high‑value elements from difficult superalloy waste streams - work that has already produced a peer‑reviewed technical paper. It’s part of a wider push to bridge UK university innovation with industry so new low‑carbon recovery processes are commercialised here rather than exported overseas.
Poor Recycling = Lost Critical Metals
Hall cautioned that poor recycling and outright greenwashing remain rife. Too often high‑performance superalloys - each containing strategic elements - are downgraded into generic stainless streams where the critical chemistry is diluted and effectively lost forever.
With onshoring trends, shifting trade policy and growing protectionism, betting solely on global raw‑material supply chains is risky; building UK capability to reclaim those metals from secondary material is a direct hedge. Grant funding exists, private capital is circling, and the technology base is here, we just need to join the dots.
Who Was in the Room?
The breakout that followed Hall’s talk comprised:
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Chair, Sam Sleight (Made in Group)
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Stephen Hall (Advanced Alloy Services)
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Curtis Stennett (Made in Group)
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Andrew Clarke (Micro Weighing Solutions)
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Georgette Donoghue (Ellis Patents)
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Ian Rose (First Stop Safety)
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Nigel Addison‑Evans (Optimised Energy)
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Wayne Hill (European Metal Recycling Group)
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Cherelle Jones (Partners PR)
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Vikki Whitehead‑Smith (Made in Group)
Design for Recovery, Not Disposal (Wayne Hill, EMR)
Picking up Hall’s challenge, Wayne Hill said EMR is increasingly consulting OEMs at the design stage so products can be dismantled and materials segregated decades down the line.
That design‑for‑end‑of‑life shift can lift recoverability dramatically: instead of settling for ~70% material recovery, EMR is helping firms aim for 80% to 95%—and in some cases pushing towards 100% recycled aluminium feedstock for new extruded billet through a project backed by £3.5 million from the Advanced Propulsion Centre. His phrase “making rather than taking” captured the new circular mindset.
EMR’s scale gives real clout: the company recycles around 10 million tonnes of ferrous and non‑ferrous metals and some 60,000 tonnes of plastic annually across the UK, putting it in prime position to influence material flows back into manufacturing.
Measure What You Throw Away (Andrew Clarke, Micro Weighing Solutions)
Data came up fast. Andrew Clarke explained how cloud‑linked weighing and traceability systems replace the old “scrap of paper” approach that leaves waste volumes invisible.
Andrew explained how one major food manufacturer tracked why waste was generated - set‑up losses, floor spills, out‑of‑sync machinery - the fixes dropped straight to the bottom line. Recognising that although this is a reflection from a completely different industry, the principles behind understanding the ‘why’ remain just as important.
Traceability & Confidence (Ian Rose, First Stop Safety)
Ian Rose voiced a pragmatic concern many share: how can they be “100% sure” all of their “recycling goes to where it’s supposed to go”. Ian elaborated:
“It’s easy enough for us just to get certified and say we’re doing our bit but we need to put in the effort to make sure our waste aluminium and circuit‑board precious metals really go where the certificates say they go,” not just into a generic pool. That call for assurance sparked offers of follow‑up support from others in the group.
Does Recycled Metal Perform? (Georgette Donoghue, Ellis Patents – with response from Stephen Hall)
Finally, Georgette queried the performance of secondary metals: does recycled content compromise material strength? Hall’s answer: most superalloys are routinely produced with at least ~80% secondary material, largely because so much high‑value metal loops back from process yields; chemistry control is the key.
For any manufacturer worried about performance, the lesson is to work with specialist recyclers who preserve alloy integrity rather than downgrading it.
In Summary
The message to manufacturers: the UK cannot remain indefinitely reliant on global supply chains for strategic metals. As chair, Sam Sleight exclaimed, “this topic needs more airtime” - and action.
Every kilo of nickel, cobalt, tungsten or high‑grade alloy you capture strengthens both your balance sheet and the nation’s industrial resilience. Or, in Stephen Hall’s own words, it’s about “turning waste into worth.”